TunHe -- Sat, Aug 20, 2005
I'm back to biking solo -- making the last stage by myself -- in large part because of one Chinese mother, Mrs. Fang. Now I have never met her, but from what I have experienced of her through Fang Wen Guang, she is an amazing, albeit interesting woman.
First I must mention that she has done an incredible job raising two boys after her husband died so suddenly of a heart attack. She is a market vendor -- there's millons of them in China and they are all selling the same damn things. But she seems to be one of the few that innovates. She focuses on one food product and tries to change it ahead of the curve, right as it gets popular and other people are not selling it. Right now she sells jellyfish... Supposedly she has been pretty successful for a street vendor.
But she wasn't too hot on Fang Wen Guang biking across china. As any mother would, she was worried about her little boy. And I must credit Fang Wen Guang for doing what I've have found most chinese children won't do -- do something their parents don't fully support.
But as time grew on -- instead of getting more comfortable with her son doing great things half way across the country, she got more worried. The issues began to roll in over the phone and the phone calls became a once, twice, three time daily event (in addition to Fang Wen Guang's damn girlfriend... another story.)
So here are the top five reasons Fang Wen Guang's mother thinks he should go home (these are actual quotes via Fang Wen Guang):
5. It's not safe -- Kazak and Uygher bandits will rob and stab him
4. He needs to mediate her relationship with her new boyfriend
3. Fang Wen Guang needs to solve her business problems
2. His brother is going to get in a fight -- Fang Wen Guang needs to come stop it
1. (For Real) -- I am going to sell him to some woman in America when we get to Korgaz!!!
Although I had thought of selling Fang Wen Guang, the offers were just too low. Though if anyone does want a 21 year old chinese boy for chores, cleaning, and whatever your pleasure... let me know and I will see what I can do when I get back to Beijing...
Biking Update
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Today I biked along Tomato Road -- I passed or was passed by literally thousands of trucks filled to the rim with plum tomatos. At times the road was covered with squashed, dried red skins and some trucks would leak the juices from the bottom tomatos onto the road. The smell of fresh tomatos permeated the air -- which although it sounds nice, it gets old after a while of being sprayed by tomato juice.
Finally out of desert territory and there are a lot more towns around and changing scenery. It makes 180km a lot more barable. Although surprisingly, the population changed dramatically back to Han Chinese. I had expected more Uygher and Kazak people as I neared Korgaz, we'll see if this was a silly assumption....
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